How do I open a .dav file?

You are the second contributor to suggest that the file is already unzipped

Because it has been. The .zip file was the one to expand/open. The file digicam.dav is what was extracted from the .zip file. There's nothing else to open.

As the name implies, this recorder can be accessed and controlled by logging into it from my Safari browser.

Ah, so you access the recorder through a browser. That's the same as accessing the built in web pages of your router to make changes. So, somewhere in the web pages for the video recorder, you should find a button (or similar) to Update Firmware. Typically, you then have a choice to tell it where the firmware data is. Point it to the file you extracted and the system will take from there.

Here's a look at how I'd do the same thing for our DSL router. If the available firmware is newer than the current, I can click the Download button in field 1, and it will retrieve the new firmware from CenturyLink. Or, if I've already downloaded the firmware from CenturyLink's website, I can use the Browse button in field 2 to point it to the file on my Mac. After either of the first two steps, then install it in field 3.

I've never had to play a .dav video file but maybe VLC can handle it. Or you could try converting it to a standard video format using a conversion app. Or maybe this player will work:

https://support.amcrest.com/hc/en-us/articles/206649037-Amcrest-Smart-Player-108 0P-HD-CVI-

that fact that it say c:// which is the windows way of naming volumes then it's not sure that you can from osx

to upgrade the firmware of the cam likely you need some flash tool which flash the dav file on to the camera

if that tool is .exe or otherwise a native windows binary file you have to do the flashing from windows pc

or look on their site if they have a mac supporting solution too

You already extracted the firmware file. Step two is rather poorly written. It would make a bit more sense had it read:

Step 2: Open the .zip file you downloaded. It will extract the firmware data, digicam.dav.

Step 3 also doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Double slashes aren't used in Windows/DOS. The root of the drive would be C:\

If I drop the .dav file onto TextEdit to see if there's any readable text in the binary data, this kind of jumps out:

Linux-3.10.0_s40

Are they expecting you to copy the .dav file to the root of the drive that runs the security cameras? Meaning, does the system have its own small computer? The C:// notation would make more sense on a Linux system.

Unfortunately, the process is immediately labelled "firmware update failed".

I wonder if that's because the process had no idea how to read a Mac formatted drive.

Try this. Format a small flash drive (anything big enough to hold the .dav file) as MS-DOS. Most already come that way. Do a Get Info on the drive, the format will likely be MS-DOS (FAT16) or (FAT32). If it is, there's no need to format the drive.

Copy the .dav file to the flash drive, then try the firmware update again.

As with any firmware update on any device, try to make sure the device doesn't lose power during the process.

The exec icon doesn't mean anything. Sort of.

It's supposed to be the icon for a Unix executable. But it also means, "I don't know what this is." when the OS doesn't recognize the file type.

That's the same basic thing Windows does with unknown file types. If Windows doesn't know what the item is, it displays the icon for it as a dog-eared piece of paper with the Windows logo in the center.

I'm not sure then. You'll have to wait for a response from the manufacturer and see what they say.

While a file is a file, and a browser is a browser, it could be that it has to be done from Windows computer. Which would make no sense to me, but you never know.

Just to clarify something. The file you downloaded was most likely automatically unzipped. If not it would have a .zip extension and not a .dav extension. Their firmware files end in .iav.